Television Review: Safe (The Expanse, S2X01, 2017)

Safe (S02E01)

Airdate: February 1st 2017

Written by: Mark Fergus & Hawk Otsby
Directed by: Breck Eisner

Running Time: 43 minutes

The very title The Expanse evokes a sense of vast, almost overwhelming scale – a sprawling solar system teeming with distinct cultures, conflicting ideologies, and intricate political machinations. It is, fundamentally, a saga where the sheer magnitude of its setting means that no single season, constrained as they are by the modern television industry’s preference for tightly-binged, self-contained narratives, can possibly grant full justice to all its critical locations, characters, and interwoven plot strands. Consequently, each new season represents not merely a continuation, but a vital opportunity to expand the narrative canvas, introducing fresh perspectives and deepening the audience’s immersion into this meticulously crafted universe. Safe, the opening salvo of Season 2, seizes this opportunity with commendable ambition, striving to fill significant voids left by the first season while simultaneously propelling the overarching story forward, albeit with a mix of compelling successes and noticeable stumbles.

Season 1 adeptly established the precarious interplanetary cold war between Earth (United Nations), Mars (Martian Congressional Republic), and the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA), colloquially known as "Belt." However, the narrative lens remained frustratingly narrow, primarily confined to the Canterbury, the Rocinante, and the political corridors of Earth. Safe" immediately rectifies this imbalance by thrusting the audience onto the rust-coloured sands of Mars itself. The episode’s visceral opening sequence plunges us directly into the Martian Marine Corps (MMC), specifically an elite squad commanded by the formidable Gunnery Sergeant Roberta "Bobby" W. Draper (Frankie Adams). The intensity of their combat drill – all kinetic gunfire, tactical shouts, and ingrained discipline – is masterfully executed, only to be revealed as a mere training simulation. This clever misdirection serves a dual purpose: showcasing the Martians’ relentless military preparedness and introducing Draper as a character whose identity is inextricably linked to the Corps and the Martian dream. Her subsequent assignment to the MCRN Scirocco, a cruiser dispatched to the remote Phoebe Station to investigate clandestine experiments, instantly elevates the Martian perspective from abstract political entity to tangible, human drama, grounding the conflict in boots-on-the-ground realism.

Crucially, unbeknownst to Draper and her crew, they are not alone in the Kuiper Belt. Earth’s UNN Nathan Hale has also been despatched to Phoebe, setting the stage for a high-stakes confrontation in the icy void. This triggers fraught deliberations within Earth’s leadership. Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) privately recognises the catastrophic folly of provoking open war with Mars over a distant station. Yet, publicly, she feigns support for the hawkish demands of Secretary-General Esteban Sorrento-Gillis and the insidious influence of Jules-Pierre Mao (who orchestrated the Hale’s mission to destroy evidence of his protomolecule experiments). Avasarala’s calculated duplicity – publicly endorsing aggression while covertly seeking answers about the assassination attempt on her own life – is a masterclass in political subterfuge. Her recruitment of Cotyar Ghazi (Nick E. Tarabay), a hardened security operative bound to her by shared grief over her late son’s service, adds a layer of personal loyalty and brutal pragmatism to her intelligence-gathering efforts, further enriching Earth’s complex political landscape.

Meanwhile, the Rocinante crew grapple with the harrowing aftermath of their escape from the Eros Station catastrophe. The immediate challenges are visceral and urgent: quarantining the Belters Naomi Nagata rescued, Holden’s relatively swift recovery from radiation poisoning (a stark contrast highlighting Earth’s physiological advantages), and Miller’s graver condition. The episode excels in these quieter, character-driven moments. The simmering tension erupts physically when Amos Burton, his moral compass increasingly askew, clashes with Miller over the cold-blooded killing of Miller’s friend, Setibamba, during the Eros evacuation. Naomi’s intervention halts the fight, but it is Alex Kamal’s understated leadership – diffusing the crew’s trauma over a simple, comforting meal of lasagne – that truly reaffirms the Rocinante’s fragile found-family dynamic. Elsewhere, Holden and Naomi, their bond forged in fire and exhaustion, succumb to long-suppressed attraction in an airlock. However, this moment, intended as a cathartic release, feels jarringly perfunctory and clichéd – a clumsy echo of the Season 1 premiere’s intimacy, lacking its organic build-up and emotional weight, serving more as a contractual obligation to "event" television than a genuine narrative progression.

Back at Phoebe, the Martian-Earth standoff reaches its climax. Draper, embodying the gung-ho Martian spirit, fervently advocates for defending the station against the Nathan Hale. Her superior, Lieutenant Sutton (Hugh Dillon), recognises the strategic folly; the Scirocco is hopelessly outgunned. In a move of devastating consequence, Sutton orders missiles fired – not at the Earth ship, but at Phoebe Station itself. The station’s destruction, intended to deny Earth its prize, inadvertently plays directly into Jules-Pierre Mao’s hands, ensuring the protomolecule evidence vanishes. While this action temporarily forestalls all-out war, it underscores the tragic ease with which grand political designs manipulate military personnel, rendering their sacrifices ultimately futile within the larger, hidden game.

Written by series architects Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, and directed with confident pacing by Breck Eisner, Safe succeeds admirably in its primary function: expanding the Expanse universe beyond its Season 1 confines. The depiction of Mars is particularly noteworthy – not as a verdant future, but as a still-desolate, red world where the dream of terraforming feels increasingly distant, sacrificed on the altar of perpetual militarisation against Earth. Frankie Adams makes an undeniable impact as Draper, her physical presence and quiet intensity commanding attention. Yet, the character remains frustratingly skeletal; her motivations beyond Corps loyalty and the terraforming ideal are barely sketched, demanding significant fleshing-out in subsequent episodes. The Rocinante plotline is largely serviceable, anchored by strong character moments: Miller’s vulnerability, Amos’s deepening moral ambiguity, and Alex’s crucial role as the crew’s emotional anchor and peacemaker. However, the aforementioned airlock scene exemplifies a recurring pitfall – prioritising shock value or formulaic repetition over the nuanced character development that is The Expanse’s greatest strength.

Ultimately, Safe is a necessary and largely effective bridge. It successfully introduces vital new dimensions to the solar system’s power structure, particularly through the compelling, if underdeveloped, Martian perspective, and maintains the intricate political chess game on Earth with Avasarala’s masterful scheming. While it stumbles with a clichéd romantic interlude and leaves Draper’s potential frustratingly unrealised, the episode reaffirms The Expanse’s core strength: its unwavering commitment to depicting the complex, often brutal, realities of life across a divided solar system. It sets the stage with urgency and scale, proving that even within the constraints of contemporary television, this saga’s Expanse remains vast enough to demand our continued attention, flaws and all. The ambition is palpable; the execution, while imperfect, is consistently compelling.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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